


Your Song

by softjoycebyers



Category: Ocean's 8 (2018)
Genre: Debbie is trying but Lou still worries, F/F, Found Family, Literally the gang is all here, Lou Miller is a piano prodigy, Post-Heist, baby Lou MIller makes an appearance, young loubbie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:40:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22150441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softjoycebyers/pseuds/softjoycebyers
Summary: "My gift is my song and this one's for you."Brought to you by the wild labyrinth of my mind.As if Lou couldn't get anymore soft, she's a bit of a prodigy who only plays music for one woman.
Relationships: Lou Miller/Debbie Ocean
Comments: 11
Kudos: 56





	Your Song

**Author's Note:**

> I should preface this by saying that this was totally inspired by Ewan McGregor version of Your Song in Moulin Rouge (2001). The version Lou is playing in the story though is Elton's, however. 
> 
> The way McGregor sang the line "my gift is my song and this one's for you" at the beginning was *chef's kiss* and literally sparked this whole story. 
> 
> As always, I'm a one person editing machine and all mistakes are mine. Please save your tomato throwing till the end!
> 
> I think I've been holding on to this long enough.

“Oh good, you made it!”

Tammy was standing at the bar’s entrance, arms crossed over her chest to ward of the chill. She watched as Debbie and Lou walked up the sidewalk hand in hand. She narrowed her eyes slightly at this new development but chose to catalogue it away for later.

“We couldn’t decide if we wanted to come,” Debbie calls out once they’re closer within earshot.

Tammy fakes a laugh, “Very funny slowpokes, now, hurry up it’s nine-thirty and everybody is already here.”

“Tam Tam you didn’t really give us a choice,” Lou says, climbing up the steps behind Debbie and greeting the blonde with a kiss on both cheeks.

Tammy feigns offense, “And what, give you two a chance to say no? It’s like you don’t even know me at all.”

Tammy knew she hadn’t left them much room to argue, and she had done so purposely. Her call earlier that day had been succinct and to the point. Tom was home after an extended work trip and he wanted time with the kids. Tammy saw the opportunity as her break from mommy duty and was determined to do _something_ with her night off. It just so happened that the ladies were also back in one city so it was perfect, and she quickly got to work on arranging a night out. Her plan was to get as drunk as she could just because she could and didn’t have to worry about her kids finding her passed out on the couch in the morning. She’d be damned if Debbie and Lou ruined that for her by not showing up. _The point was for all of them to spend time together._ And Tammy made sure to emphasize this — hanging up the phone before Debbie or Lou could form a response.

That’s how they ended up at some dive bar in Queens.

Constance was the first of the group inside to notice the other three women walk in, “Moms!” she raises her shot glass in a mock toast to their arrival.

“Constance!” The young woman is immediately admonished by Nine Ball and Amita — who looks around to make sure she hadn’t drawn unwanted attention.

Constance waves the two off, and instead downs her drink in one gulp.

“Take it easy kid, th— ” Lou stops short, the wind suddenly knocked out of her as something barreled into her chest. The impact so hard it causes her to lose her footing and stumble back into Debbie.

“Rose!” “Jesus.” “Dude, you’re gonna break her.”

Rose ignores Amita, Nine Ball and Constance, and instead squeezes Lou a moment longer.

“Oh, I’ve missed you,” she says as she moves on to Debbie and hugs her just as tightly. “It’s been ages.”

Tammy nods in agreement, mentally patting herself on the back for getting everyone back together in one place on such short notice and refusing to take no for an answer.

It’s true, everyone has been busy doing other things. Daphne was shooting a new movie, and Rose had been hired on as the Costume Designer. Nine Ball was still running her pool bar while hacking on the side for other clients who’d enlisted her skills, and Amita was traveling. Constance was doing whatever it was Constance usually did, no one knew for sure exactly what it was but their long forgotten group chat was full of YouTube links. Lou had only just recently gotten back from California after being away for nearly a month, and Debbie — not quite sure what to do with all her free time now that the heist was over had barely left the loft.

Before taking off Lou had asked Tammy to check in on Debbie when could, and those were the few times Tammy saw her. And of course Debbie would never admit she missed Lou.

So it was nice to finally reconnect.

“Well, aren’t you glad we came Tam Tam?” Debbie quips.

“Pulling teeth would have been easier,” Tammy rolls her eyes in exasperation, and the brunette smirks.

Debbie follows Lou to Rose’s table, the latter straddling the back of a chair next to Daphne.

"Daphne Klugar, is that you?"

Lou leans over the woman to get a better look at her around her thick rimmed sunglasses and the red scarf wrapped around her head. She'd been uncharacteristically quiet since they walked in.

"What’s with the getup? You’re indoors Daphne," Lou chuckles.

Daphne huffs and swats Lou away, "Could you please not say my name so loud? I’m trying not to be recognized."

Debbie laughs, looking around the half empty bar. It was a Wednesday night in the middle of December, the bar was not as crowded as it could be and no one was looking their direction.

"Sweetheart, I don't think you'll have that problem."

Most of the night was spent drinking and playing catch up, after that.

Lou, however, divided her time between observing her friends interact and watching Debbie engage with them. She had to admit that word of Debbie’s self-imposed, albeit not on purpose, isolation worried her. Lou would have cut her trip short and come back sooner had it not been for Tammy very strongly telling her that Debbie had to figure out her next steps on her own, and that her enabling would get them nowhere. Still, the blonde fretted, knowing how hard it was for Debbie to open up.

But Debbie seemed to be trying tonight, and that was all Lou wanted. To see her laugh freely at some dumb joke Constance told or indulge Amita in another story about a failed date, brought Lou some relief.

“Hey Lou, look over there,” Tammy’s voice sidling up to her breaks through her thoughts. “C’mon you gotta play something.”

Lou turns to follow the other woman’s gaze. Sitting in the middle of the stage was a Steinway piano she hadn’t noticed before.

Lou's preoccupation with Debbie hadn't given her much time to take in her surroundings beyond what was immediately in front of her. She had missed the sign at the entrance that said it was "open mic" night, and though the turnout was poor and mediocre, there were acts that passed through the stage Lou had missed.

Six pairs of eyes shift their attention to her.

“No way, dad can play?”

“Yes,” Came Debbie’s quick response, as if letting the rest in on a long overdue secret.

Lou looks at Debbie, genuinely surprised that she knew, silently asking her how. She hadn’t sat at a piano in nearly 20 years.

Tammy interrupts them, “please Lou,” she’s practically begging, “I’ve had to hear terrible singing all night, please save my ears!”

Lou shrinks a little in her chair, of all the ways she saw her night going, this was not it. This wasn’t something she’d ever planned on actually sharing. Not even with Debbie. Sure, when she was much younger Lou used to think she’d eventually practice again but life got in the way and she just never found the time, will or passion for it.

“I used to. It was a long time ago,” she finally relents.

“Dude.”

“Oh, now you have to hear this.”

Debbie places her hand on top of Lou’s, gaining her attention, “Lou,” she starts lowly, “I’d like to hear you play.”

Lou begins to acquiescence, nodding her head. Tammy takes it upon herself to tell the group that she was once some sort of child prodigy.

Lou gawks at her friend in disbelief, “Tammy, you’re drunk and I’m cutting you off. I was not a child prodigy.”

“Bullshit. And you wouldn’t dare,” though Tammy takes a step back as she says this, hugging her drink. “Debbie’s told me you’re brilliant.”

“There’s no way you could know that, Debbie has never heard me play either.”

“Well, actually… ” Debbie looks at Lou bashfully.

Debbie had only heard Lou play piano once, and they’ve been through so much since, she hadn’t thought about it in a long time.

––––––

_It was early on their partnership, Debbie had dragged Lou out to the mall but she’d eventually wandered off, having grown bored of looking at shoes and overpriced clothes that didn’t seem practical._

_Debbie found Lou several hours later sitting at the piano by the escalator in Nordstrom. Lou was tinkering with the keys, and Debbie thought about approaching her but quickly ruled against it, staying out of sight and observing her instead._

_She was soon rewarded when the random notes turned into the opening melody of Maybe this Time. It was a sound so rich and sure, Debbie had no idea it could come from Lou. She was even less prepared for the instant tears it brought to her eyes. Lou played with the self-assurance of someone who’s been doing it her whole life, and Debbie wanted to know where it came from, if Lou would ever share this side of her._

_Lou didn’t finish the song, losing steam before it really picked up but Debbie wasn’t sure what to do with this new information or the unexpected way it made her feel. She took a few moments to gather herself before approaching Lou at the bench._

_“You ready to go?”_

––––––

“Deb?”

“I’d given up on you telling me,” she shrugs. “It was years ago and I thought you’d at least mention it a lot sooner than now. I don’t even remember telling Tammy but a lot has happened since.”

Debbie pauses, softening. She scoots closer to Lou, invading her personal space and forcing the woman to meet her eyes.

“Baby, I know there are things you’d rather not talk about and we’ll never bring it up again if you don’t want to. But I’d really like to hear you play and I don’t want to hide to do it.”

Lou takes a moment before responding, “okay,” she finally relents with a shake of her head. She’d do anything Debbie asked her too.

Debbie watches as Lou makes her way towards the piano, she knows she’s the only one who caught the other woman’s usually confident stride falter ever so slightly as though she’s about to fight some unseemly beast.

Lou takes a seat at the old wooden bench, back straight, shoulders down. She was hesitant to touch the keys, fingers hovering just above them. She found it ironic an inanimate object could wield such power over her but she hasn’t played in so long and she’s purposely avoided thinking about the instrument at all.

The row of black and ivory keys taunted her.

Lou remembers the small piano her mother used to own when she was a child. It sat just off the living space in their house, and it was rarely touched. But seeing her mother sitting at the bench was one of the few times Lou could recall ever seeing genuine peace on the older woman’s face.

Sometimes when her father wasn’t home she’d often find her mother there, she’d heard her fiddle with it but never sounded like actual music to Lou.

One day she had wandered over to her mother, leaning on her knees as the woman strung a few notes together.

"Do you want to try, sweet girl?" Her mother had asked.

Lou nodded.

Her mother picked her up and sat her next to her, "alright," she paused, trying to think of something simple she could teach her daughter.

Subsequently, her mother really only knew one song.

“Watch me, okay?"

She starts playing Easy Living, slowing her pace, and allowing the notes to hang; Lou's eyes never left her hands.

"I can do it," Lou says the moment her mother stop playing.

"Sweetheart––"

"I can do it, mama."

And she did, mimicking her mother's movements, perfectly in pitch.

"How did you do that?"

Lou had just shrugged, beaming up at her stunned mother.

Piano became their thing after that. They’d only do it when her father was out so as to not disturb the little quiet they had on his good days. Her mother taught her more of the song, and they’d play it whenever they could. After she died, her first foster mother had gotten her into some proper music classes but Lou didn’t stay in the home long enough to get beyond the basics. It wasn’t until she was much older that she tried to play something other than Easy Living, but as the years went by she eventually stopped playing altogether.

“Lou,” Tammy’s impatient whine brought her back to the present.

“Tammy, darling, I think you’ve had enough for tonight,” Rose cuts in taking the beer from her hands.

Tammy pouts but gives up the bottle without further protest.

Lou sighed, turning to the group, “if you start throwing peanuts I won’t do it all,” she warns Tammy.

Lou takes a breath, working to regain her focus. She closes her eyes for a moment, trying to conjure up a song she knew how to recreate.

Then, like a trick candle that’s been snuffed out and suddenly coming back to life, Lou remembers another thing. Her fingers begin dancing over the notes Your Song, and they reverberate right into Debbie.

Unbidden, Debbie’s mind fills in the words to the song Lou is not singing.

**_It's a little bit funny this feeling inside_ **  
**_I'm not one of those who can easily hide_ **

And she’s back in her brother’s old jeep, 20-something years younger, Lou at the wheel driving down a Jersey highway.

––––––

_They’d just completed their first big heist, and it had been far from perfect but they made it out with enough money to afford a nicer hotel than the roadside ones they’d been staying at in between jobs._

_Debbie was feeling unusually giddy, a feeling she couldn’t say she felt often. But they’d done surprisingly well in spite of almost getting caught, and maybe that’s the part that thrilled her the most._

_She was singing, badly. Something else she didn’t do. But it was making Lou laugh and Debbie took a special kind of pleasure in knowing she was the reason the blonde seemed so happy. She wasn’t sure reveling in that happiness was allowed but she resolved to keep that thought to herself for now._

_Their hands were locked together over the center console, and Debbie didn’t want to think about the implication of it. She didn’t want to put too much thought into Lou bringing the back of her hand up to her lips and kissing it. The woman had grabbed it as they all but ran away from the casino, and hadn’t let it go since. Debbie had made no moves to take it back either._

_There were a lot of things they didn’t talk about; Debbie was sure this would just be another thing added to the growing list. They didn’t talk about how their eyes would always find each other, or how sometimes she’d catch Lou already staring. They never talked about how easy it was to communicate without words._

_Truth be told, these were all things that scared Debbie shitless. At first she thought these things were born out of their easy working relationship, but that was only part of the answer, and the only answer she’d made herself believe. However, she knew there was something more there, something she didn’t feel brave enough to explore and wasn’t sure she could return. Or at least not in the way Lou deserved._

_Today though, none of that mattered. It wouldn’t be the thing to keep her up at night when they shared a bed later. Today she could pretend she wasn’t afraid of what her feelings meant, if it meant she could keep that smile on Lou’s face a little while longer._

_And you can tell everybody this is your song_  
_It may be quite simple but now that it's done_

_So she kept singing, and Lou kept laughing until reality came crashing down and they had to pull over as Lou began to feel the initial stirrings of panic._

_“Lou! Lou. Baby, what’s wrong?”_

_Debbie crawls into her lap, the term of endearment escaping from her mouth._

_“Lou listen, it’s not your fault, okay,” she says firmly, grabbing Lou’s face with both her hands and forcing the other woman to meet her eyes. “We’ll do better next time, baby, okay, it’s not your fault.”_

_They sat like that for a few minutes, Debbie holding Lou, stroking the back of her blonde hair until she calmed down._

_Lou looked up at her after several moments of silence, eyes wet with unshed tears. The shift in mood suddenly palpable. The intensity of her stare though was almost too much for Debbie, she willed herself not to look away._

_Debbie didn’t know who kissed who first; this was a line she hadn’t allowed herself to consider crossing. But she knew that at that moment, nothing had felt so right. She couldn’t shake the feeling of foreboding that overtook, however, once they broke for air. Like she just knew this would only end in heartbreak eventually._

_But it was the way Lou was looking at her now, as though she’d personally hung the moon, that made Debbie decide to ignore that feeling. The other woman’s smile was infectious, and Debbie was sure she always wanted Lou to kiss her like that._

_“I don’t know how you see through these things,” Debbie smiles, rolling her eyes playfully. She moves Lou’s bangs back from her face, pressing her lips to her forehead._

**_Yours are the sweetest eyes I’ve ever seen_ **

––––––

Debbie realizes now they’ve fallen into that same old pattern of doing things and not talking about them.

They had picked up almost where they had left off. Touching came as natural to them as it did before, and Lou never said anything the mornings after Debbie would crawl into bed with her after a nightmare.

Part of their mistake in the past was never defining what they were to each other. That might have worked for the two girls in their 20s making out in the front of her brother’s jeep, but Debbie and Lou were so far removed from those people, it certainly did not work for them now. That wasn't enough anymore.

Debbie knew Lou wouldn’t make the first move, and though Lou was never one to shy away from feelings, the woman was older and a bit more wary this time around. Lou’s love for Debbie never wavered but she was allotting Debbie time.

Time, Debbie knew she no longer needed.

Debbie had grown tired too. Mostly of her herself, and her inability to be as open about everything as Lou. She’s begun to accept that she’ll never be on the woman’s level in that way and that it’s okay.

Debbie recalled her brief conversation with Tammy in the loft after the heist, Lou’s bike sitting in the middle of the living room. You know more than one thing can make you happy. And she had heard Tammy’s unasked question, what makes you happy, Deb?

She had thought a lot about this question while Lou was gone, and Debbie had finally decided that she was going to fight for them. Half the heist was about getting Lou back and that has yet to happen. There had to be something else she could do. Something had to give; and Debbie refused to lose Lou because of her own hubris.

––––––

Lou could feel Debbie’s presence before she even touches her shoulders, her hands halting over the keys but she does care. Lou is suddenly very aware that something has changed. Her shoulders now tingling for a completely different reason.

Debbie sits next to her on the bench. The seat hardly big enough for the two of them.

Debbie looks down for a moment, trying to get over the sudden fear that she could still ruin this moment. That nagging voice of self-doubt that said maybe she was wrong, maybe she had missed her chance.

But when her brown eyes finally turn up to find Lou already staring at her, everything, including the voice inside her head, fades away.

With an unwavering gaze Debbie says, “God, I love you so much.”

**Author's Note:**

> Oof I've really been through a lot trying to write and edit this story because of my general anxiety and self-doubt is a real b*tch.
> 
> But thank you so much for reading, this and all the other fics I've written so far. It truly means a lot to me. 
> 
> Drop a line if you want, they feed me and I'd love to hear what y'all think.


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